


The Pencil lines that connect us

by Silver_ferret



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Depression, Falling In Love, Happy Ending, Hogwarts Eighth Year, Hogwarts Era, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-War, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 11:50:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11035629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Silver_ferret/pseuds/Silver_ferret
Summary: It's Harrys and Dracos eight year and both young men are haunted by the ghosts of the past, feeling unable to move on with their lifes.Everything changes when Draco finds something Harry had desperatly tried to hide.





	1. Chapter 1

DRACO P.O.V.

It was a warm and sunny evening which made all students, that were sitting slumped together in the humid History of Magic classroom, wish they were outside, rather than having to listen to Professor Bins monotonous lecture.

It had been a huge shock for everyone, when at the middle of the summer all old seven year students had gotten a letter, telling them that they could return to Hogwarts.

The letter stated that since last year the school year hadn´t gone after the regular curriculum for all students, with the on-going war and the influence Voldemort had on the school, every student who wished to return could come back and repeat their seventh year.

Draco at first had thought that this was some kind of joke. They wanted them to return after everything that had happened? Draco was still woken by nightmares of the battle, smelling the smoke and blood of it all over again. Not that he didn´t have any other bad dreams, but the memories of the battle haunted him the most. Many nights he would wake up seeing Crabbe falling into the flames, not being able to save him. It may have been true, that Crabbe and Goyle had only been his “bodyguards” and he couldn´t really call them his friends, but they still had been by his side for nearly 7 years and he felt guilty not being able to save his old companion.

After the battle and the trials in the ministry, he thought he would be leaving the country soon, so the letter took him by surprise and flipped over his plans.

They asked him to return, after everything he had done?

The young Malfoy already couldn´t believe that the ministry had cleared him from all charges and set him free. Even more surprising it had been no other then Harry Potter that he needed to thank for this. It had been a surprise for everyone, when on the day of the hearing of his family the new saviour of the wizarding world had appeared saying that he wanted to testify on the behalf of his mother and him. Draco didn´t understand why he wanted to clear his name, after all they had been enemies the past seven years. So much blood stuck to his hands, he was partly guilty for so many deaths that had happened.

`Maybe he is expected to do this, being a war hero after all.´, thought Draco, `I mean he hates me, so why should he help mother and me, if it wasn´t something people expected from him.´

They had a silencing spell on the cage, in which the 3 Malfoys where held, so that the evidences could speak without them listening to every word. The blond boy had watched witness, after witness testifying, seeing the faces of the audience growing colder and colder. Then Potter stepped into the witness box, making all heads turn to him.

He had looked ill, being thinner than ever before, with big black circles under his eyes, looking like he had barely slept or eaten for the past weeks.

`Seems like I am not the only one, who is haunted by the past, but why? Why do his eyes look so tired and lifeless? Shouldn´t he be full of himself, since every one worships him now?!´, the young Malfoy had thought.

Still, when the raven haired boy opened his mouth and began to speak, Draco could feel the passion that lay behind, even without hearing his words. The dull, lifeless eyes coming back to life again, shining again in that brilliant emerald that seemed to devour you, when you looked into them. Malfoy wondered what Potter was saying with such a passion behind it.

The judges, who had looked disgusted down on them, had begun to become more and more uncomfortable in their chairs. The head judge had even stood up from his chair speaking to the new war hero, looking from the 3 Malfoys to the young men in front of him. Something he had said must have called the rage of the new hero. He had glanced shortly at Draco, his eyes burning like green fire had been caged in them and then he had begun to speak facing the judges again. The young Malfoy heir had tried to make out, what he was telling the judges, but since he couldn´t quite see the lip movements, he had no idea what Potter was saying. It must have been powerful words, because what he said, caused the head judge to slump back into his chair, looking defeated.

Not much later the judges made their final decision, clearing him of all his charges and setting his mother under house arrest for a year. His father hadn´t been so lucky, he was sentenced to a lifelong stay in Azkaban. Draco had already expected that, even more he had been sure that he would join his father. So he couldn´t believe his luck, when the guards opened his handcuffs declaring that he was free to go, with a hateful glare.

After being set free, he of course had known that it would be hard, but not that it would be this hard. Everyone knew that he had been a death eater and treated him and his mother now like scum. Yeah they still had their money, but no one wanted to associate themselves with a former death eater. This was the reason he had decided that it would be for the best, if they left the country, after his mother dismounted her one year of house arrest.

He had never expected to get a letter from Professor McGonagall, offering him to go back to Hogwarts. Why would she offer him, a former death eater to come back? Draco couldn´t wrap his head around it. Yes he was cleared of all charges, but why did that matter? It didn’t make him less guilty or erase his sins. Everyone in Hogwarts would hate him and only see Draco as a former death eater.

No he didn´t want to go back, Hogwarts wouldn´t be the Hogwarts he had known, when he was younger. It had changed in his 6th year, becoming tainted, like everything Voldemort touched.

In the end it had been his mother who changed his mind. She told him that he shouldn´t stay locked in the Manor, where the ghosts of the past haunted every corridor. It didn´t matter, when he told her that he didn´t want to leave her alone there.

“Draco, it would make me so much happier to see you return to Hogwarts, rather than seeing you be here locked up with me. I know it will be hard and that you are scared to return. Many will look down on you and loathe you, but this is your chance to redeem yourself in their eyes. You can retake the year you lost son, I believe in you. Please return for mine, but especially your own sake.”

Seeing his mother pleading him to go back, he couldn´t say no to her request.

So on the first day of September Draco had stood at platform 9 ¾ with the other Hogwarts students, waiting for the train to arrive. He felt the stinging glares of the other passengers and their families, showing him that he wasn´t supposed to be here.

His mother hadn´t been able to see him off, since she was under house arrest. For that reason the young Malfoy, had been standing all alone on the platform, surrounded by people who hated him.

`Why did I come here again? ´, Draco had thought, feeling more alone than ever.

Not even his former “friends” from Slytherin wanted to associate themselves with him. He was not only a traitor to the light side, but also to them. He had lost Goyle to the fiendfyre and Crabbe hadn´t been the same since then. It seemed like his two companions had been more involved in the scheming of Voldemort than he had known. This resulted in Crabbe being also looked away in Azkaban, like his father.

Standing lost at the station, the world had seemed to grow even colder and darker around him.

When he had finally found the courage to get on the train, he suddenly had heard the noises of the crowd around him growing louder and louder. People had been stretching themselves, younger children standing on their tiptoes, pointing fingers at something Draco had yet to see. Then finally he had seen what caused the ruckus, the Golden Trio of Harry Potter and his two friends had arrived at the station.

`What is he doing here? Shouldn´t he be somewhere of with the Weasel training to become an Auror or something? It´s not like he needs this extra year. Who wouldn´t employ the new saviour of the wizarding world?!´, he had thought.

The nearer the young hero had come, the more the Slytherin realized how ill the other boy looked. While walking to the train Granger and the Weasel, were doing their best to stop the overexcited crowd from approaching Potter.

`What is wrong with him? ´, Draco had wondered.

“Come on guys, leave Harry some space, don´t you think he deserves this after last year?”, the Weasel said to the crowed of students approaching his friend.

Together he and Granger pulled Potter into one of the compartments shutting the noisy fans out.

Seeing this, the blond Slytherin had grabbed his luggage, searching for a compartment himself. Even through the train had been more crowded than normal, he still sat alone the whole ride to Hogwarts, since nobody wanted to share a compartment with a former death eater.

When they arrived at Hogwarts, he grabbed his luggage walking to the carriages, of whom most people had thought that they rode without anything pulling them. Not few people had been deeply shocked to find out that this wasn´t the case, but that they were pulled by the ghostly looking Thestrals. Draco, who had already been able to see them since his 5 year, just had grabbed the nearest carriage continuing his lonely journey to Hogwarts.

The following first weeks in Hogwarts had been a martyrdom. Not only the other 3 houses hated him, but also his own house avoided him, making perfectly clear that they didn´t want anything to do with him too.

Soon after he had come back to the Wizarding School he had become the target of pranks, with people hissing insults as they passed him in the halls. Potter on the other side seemed to be the complete opposite of him, his fans would probably even kiss the ground he walked on, so much they loved him. Groups of fan girls and admirers followed him from class to class, trying to get his attention. The weird thing was that the heroic Gryffindor didn’t seem to enjoy this attention at all; he seemed to avoid them at all costs. As soon as the class ended he rushed out of the classroom clutching a big brown parchment and a black leather notebook to his chest, which he seemed to carry everywhere since the school year had started.

Draco couldn´t help, but wonder what the deal with these two things was and why Potter carried them everywhere he went. Why were they so important to him, it didn´t make sense, since he only started carrying them around this year and they seemed to be the two only things he was interested in.

So it wasn´t strange for the young Malfoy seeing the Gryffindor once again being immersed into the black leather notebook again, seeming to be scribbling in it furiously. The blond Slytherin tried to make out, what the raven haired boy was drawing, but couldn´t since Potter was shielding it from nosy glances.

When the class finally ended and the more or less dozy students slowly started to pack their things, Potter started to quickly pack his stuff into his pack, throwing the notebook on top last. As he strode to the door being followed by his two best friends, he was hit by Longbottom, who seemed to have tripped over a lying down chair, one of their classmates hat tripped over. Since Longbottom wasn´t the small rabbit teethed boy he had been younger anymore, but a tall muscular young men Potter nearly fell down. Taken by surprise to suddenly have an arm full of Longbottom, the Gryffindor didn´t notice the notebook slipping out of his bag, falling down and sliding over the ground under one of the bookshelves at the wall of the classroom.

“Sorry Harry.”, Longbottom said, standing up straight again, fixing his dishevelled hair.

“It´s ok Neville, don´t worry about it.“, the young Gryffindor said, helping his friend to pick up his things.

After that he got up, he looked at his two friends, who had been waiting for him at the door. Then he glanced at Draco, creating the first real eye contact they had have this school year. Feeling fixed the blond boy couldn´t help but stare back. Draco couldn´t count how many times he had stared into these deep pools of emerald, becoming entranced by them. In all his life had never met anyone else who possessed the same eye colour as the strong willed Gryffindor. They were entrancing and he couldn´t look away, when their owner fixed them on them, the stormy grey sea of his eyes fighting against the burning green fire in Potters eyes.

There only where broken, when the voice of the red haired Gryffindor brought him back into to present.

“Are you coming mate?”

“Yes.”, the raven haired boy said, breaking the eye contact between the two of them, quickly following his friends out of the classroom.

Noticing that he was the last student left in the classroom, Draco quickly started to pack his own stuff, when he noticed the black leather notebook lying under the bookshelf next to him, he quickly bent down to pick it up. Looking around, checking that no one was near, he sat down on his desk examined the notebook. The notebook was plain black, with only the borders being decorated with 4 ornamental imprinted swirls.

Checking again if anyone was near, Draco looked around the classroom, finding that no student or teacher was in sight, since it had been the last class of the afternoon.

Not being able to hold himself back, he flipped the book open, curious about what Potter had been writing in it. Seeing the contents of the book, the young Slytherin stocked the book wasn´t as he thought a notebook, but in fact a sketchbook. The pages of the sketchbook where covert in sketches, made with soft pencil strokes. It was a strange mix, the drawings for sure were all beautiful, but the images ranged from portraits to haunting pictures documenting the past. Flipping through the pages Draco knew that these images were private and that he shouldn´t look at them, even if they were from Potter, he couldn´t help it and continued to look at the images. The pages where covert in portraits of his friends, so detailed that they looked like they could come awake every minute. The images showed Granger sitting in an armchair, appearing to have fallen asleep reading a book, Weasley playing chess with Dean Thomas, Loony Lovegood sitting in the grass making a flower crown and many more.

He also recognized other people, for example Sirius Black his aunts Bellatrix cousin. He had heard from her that Black was Potters godfather and he could see the Potters love in the way the portrait, showing Black sitting in chair near a fireplace, holding a wineglass and laughing. It was strange to see a picture of Sirius Black laughing, since Draco had only seen him looking utterly insane on his wanted posters. He was shocked when he discovered that the next page held a sketch of him being killed. The drawing was as beautiful as the ones before, but the image was far more haunting. The sketch showed his aunt firing the killing spell and Black falling threw an archway. He had of course heard that his aunt killed Sirius Black, after all Bellatrix bragged about it, whenever she could, but he didn´t knew that Potter head witnessed him getting killed.

Flipping through the pages, the sum of gruesome sketches increased, the images included Cedric lying dead on the grass, on what looked like to be a graveyard, a giant basilisk fighting with a phoenix, a Dementor couching over Sirius Black sucking his soul out, Dumbledore and Potter standing on a small island being surrounded by corpses trying to get to them and many more. He noticed that in between many pages where torn out and wondered why, after all it wasn´t like he had torn out any of the other disturbing pictures and the reason for sure wasn´t that he messed up a sketch, since all the other sketches were extraordinary.

When he flipped open the next page he froze, the drawing showed the Malfoy manor looking cold and intimidating. Trembling he turned over the next page and was shocked to find a portrait of himself. The portrait showed his 17 year old self looking weary and scared. Draco knew which moment Potter had captured, the moment when he was told to identify him and with this hand him over to Voldemort.

With trembling fingers he traced the lines of his face, when suddenly he interrupted by the sound of the door flying open with a bang and Potter calling his name.

“Malfoy!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I even through I already have uploaded chapter , a friend of mine is going to proofread in a few days, so if I made some mistakes they will be fixed soon. :)  
> Also I have already written chapter 2 completly and I am working on chapter 3, so I am going to upload chapter 2 next week. ;) Stay tuned for that!  
> ~Silver_ferret


	2. Chapter 2

Harry P.O.V.  
When Harry arrived at the Gryffindor common room, after finishing his last lecture for today, he quickly walked up to the Gryffindor dormitories, saying he just wanted to rest for a bit, to Ron and Hermione. His friends already being used to this, said they would come get him, when dinner was served. Walking into the dormitory he shared with Neville, Ron, Dean and Seamus, he collapsed on his bed feeling extremely tired. Even though he was so tired, he knew he wouldn´t be able to fall asleep just like this and even if he did, his sleep would be haunted by nightmares.

Ever since the war had ended he hasn’t had a good night of sleep. Whenever he closed his eyes, he was haunted by the ghosts of the past. He had already been plagued by nightmares before the end of the war, but not on such a scale. The worst thing was that even when he was awake his ghosts wouldn´t leave him alone, making him unable to eat, stealing his appetite 

His friends tried to get him to eat more. They didn´t understand that every bite tasted rotten when he remembered how many of his friends and their families would never get to taste anything again. Even when Mrs. Weasley had made his favourite dish treacle tart every bite he had taken tasted like blood to him. Still he had forced himself to finish it completely since he didn´t want to make Mrs. Weasley worry more then she already did. 

This was one of the good things about going back to Hogwarts, Mrs. Weasley couldn´t watch his every step anymore. Harry knew that she was only worried and wanted the best for him, but it was hard to put on a mask each and every day. He didn´t want her to worry about him when she already had George to worry about. The twin had become quite introverted ever since Fred had died and only sometimes glimpses of the old George showed. He couldn´t bear to cause the Weasleys any more trouble after everything they had done for him.

At first he had been unsteady about coming back to Hogwarts. He remembered the gruesome things that had taken place there last year. He realized he would be haunted by his ghosts wherever he was and it didn´t matter where he went, they would follow him. Also, he didn´t really have any plans on what else to do. His earlier younger thoughts of becoming an auror were out of the question. Harry was sick of the war and having to fight every day, so he for sure didn´t want to pursue a career, where he would have to do exactly this for the rest of his life.

When Hermione said she wanted to go back to complete her education with Ron obviously saying that he would go with her, it had been a no brainer for him to decide to come with them.

It was still hard for him to be back at Hogwarts, because it was a constant reminder of all his friends that had died there. He remembered Remus each time he had Defence against the Dark Arts, Tonks walking through the corridors amusing younger students with her Metamorphmagus powers, Colin snapping pictures on the Quidditchfield, Severus writing instructions on the board of the potion classroom, Fred selling Wizard Wheezes products in the common room, nearly setting the room on fire with George and of course so many more, who had died in the battle of Hogwarts.

He also remembered those who had suffered injuries, like Lavender Brown who was still in St. Mungus recovering from the injuries she had gotten attacked by Fenir Greyback, or Parvati Patil who was still in a coma.

It was his fault, all of them had been hurt because he hadn´t killed Voldemort sooner. If he handed himself over to Voldemort sooner none of them would have had to die or get injured. Hermione and Ron would have been able to destroy the Horcruxes on their own, they didn´t need him to complete this task.

This guilt was just overwhelming and sometimes he wished he had died with them. He knew that he couldn´t hurt his friends like this, so he kept on living. It wasn´t like there were no good moments anymore, sometimes he laughed with his friends like he did before the war, the problem was that these moments were quickly again overshadowed by the memories of the past.

The only thing that really helped to get these thoughts out of his head was drawing. Drawing gave him some peace. This was something barely anyone knew about him. It had been something he had never mentioned to any of his friends. Ron and Hermione only found out about of his hobby when they went on the Horcrux hunt. It was something he had acquired while staying by the Dursleys. Since he had been locked up with nothing much to do, he started to draw, since acquiring a pencil and a bit paper was an easy task. Another advantage of this hobby was that it was a quiet one and didn´t alarm the Dursleys. When they came into his room he could quickly hide his resent drawings under a pillow, so they wouldn´t notice what he was doing. With every other hobby they would probably have found a way to punish him for it, but this was safe.

Since he spent so many summers locked up in his room, he had become really good at what he did, being even able to draw lifelike portraits. Still he didn´t really draw much at Hogwarts, since most of the time so much was going on that he didn´t really have the time for it. Another thing that kept him from drawing was he kind of wanted to keep it for himself. His drawings were something that just belonged to him and he didn´t want to share them with everybody, since many things he drew were really personal and not meant for the public eye. Ron and Hermione had only found out about his hobby, when they were hunting for Horcruxes and discovered one his sketches. Both had been surprised to learn that Harry could draw like this, but promised not to bother him, with wanting to he is art, when they noticed how important it was to him.

Since the war ended everything had changed. He carried his sketchbook everywhere he went, since drawing the things that were going on his head helped him pull through the day. Of course he also still drew normal things, but since the war he found himself drawing the things that plagued his dreams more often. This was one of the reasons that even now he kept his talent a secret from everyone except his closet friends. So far the only ones who knew about it were Hermione, Ron, and the rest of the Weasleys. He couldn´t really keep it a secret living crowded together with them in the Burrow this summer. Luna and Dean had seen him drawing in Shell cottage, but luckily they all had promised not to tell anyone about it.

It was good that they didn´t pressuring him to see his drawings, since they probably would have found out that he kept on drawing Malfoy over and over again. They might make some wrong assumptions. 

Harry didn´t know why he was so intrigued with drawing the git, maybe because he had looked at his face so many times in the past, that drawing the Slytherin just came easy to him. Maybe because they were so similar and at the same time so utterly different he really couldn´t say why exactly he was drawing him. He just needed to draw him, or he couldn´t relax. When he had a thought stuck in his head, he had to draw it or it would drive him insane.

Today again in class he couldn´t help himself and sketched the blond Slytherin again. He just couldn´t help it, when he felt the blond boys steel grey eyes burning into his side. It was strange, but he didn´t feel as bothered by it anymore as he did before, maybe because Malfoy still looked at him the same way he did before and not like he was some kind of perfect being, like his “fans” did. 

Harry was sick of the stares and people calling him a hero, turning him into some kind of perfect being in their heads. Yeah he may have had killed Voldemort, but he wasn´t the only one who had fought against him. So many people had fought against Voldemort, getting killed or injured. Harry felt like everyone was forgetting that was worshipping him. He didn’t deserve all their praising and wished people would stop thinking of him as being perfect. 

Having Malfoy look the same way at him as he did before was a relief, of course there were many unspoken things between them and Harry had known since 6 year that Draco wasn´t exactly the way he thought he was, but still it comforted Harry that Malfoy didn´t worshipped him as everyone else.

After class he hadn´t been able to stop himself from looking back at Malfoy before leaving the classroom. Neville crashing into him had made him remember his surroundings, which he normally blended out. Malfoy had looked almost as tired as him, his cheeks being more sunken in than normally and he spotted dark black circles under his eyes. 

`I don´t seem to be the only one having trouble sleeping.´, Harry had thought.

Remembering their interaction made Harry want to draw Malfoy again for the second time this day, so he grabbed his bag and started to rummage through it. 

When he didn´t find the sketchbook on top of his stuff, where he had placed it Harry dumped out the entire bag on his bed, trying to find it. When he realised that it wasn´t there, he started to panic.

`Where can it be? I know I packed it into my bag after class.´, Harry thought furiously and then he remembered the collision with Neville, ‘It must have fallen out my bag, when Neville fell against me.´

He jumped of his bed, running down the stairs to the Gryffindor common room, taking two steps at a time. When he reached the common room Ron and Hermione, who had been sitting curled up together in one of the big armchairs in front of the fireplace, jumped up looking worried seeing their friend in distress.

“Harry everything ok?”, Hermione asked, being supported by her boyfriend, who also looked with concern at their best friend. 

“Yeah mate, what is the problem?”

Sprinting to the portrait hole Harry only shouted, ”Everything’s fine guys, don´t worry.”, and then disappeared through the opening to the common room.

He loved his friends, but he couldn´t deal with their concern at the moment, he had other things to worry about. They already worried about him enough and they really shouldn´t know how important his sketchbook really was for him.

As fast as he could he ran through the halls of the school back to Professor Bins Classroom, nearly running into some first year students that yelled after him irritated, until they realized who nearly crashed into them and started to talk exited among themselves. The sketchbook being the only thing on his mind, Harry didn´t even really notice them.

When he reached the classroom door he pulled it open with a bang, startling Malfoy who was sitting bent over his sketchbook. Harrys heart clenched, when he saw at which page the Slytherin was looking. Malfoy was staring directly down onto his own portrait, which Harry had just drawn an hour ago. 

`Why did he have to be the one to find my sketchbook and why did he have to flip open this exact page?´, he thought. Harry cursed himself for not ripping out the page, like all the other ones with Draco on it, which he stored in a box in his trunk under his bed. Then again he couldn´t have known, that this would happen. Who did Malfoy think he was looking to other people‘s stuff just like this?

“Malfoy!”, he screamed enraged, making the Slytherin flip his head to him.

“Potter.”, Malfoy said, looking like had been caught red-handed doing something he shouldn´t.

“Give it back to me!”

“You mean this?”, Malfoy asked holding up the sketchbook.

“Of course this, don´t play dumb, you stole it when it fell out of my bag.”

“I stole it?! Is it my fault, when you don´t take care of your own stuff. I just found it lying under a bookshelf, when I was packing my stuff into my bag.”

“Yeah, sure and the next thing you tell me is that you were just looking through it for my sake.”, Harry said in a sarcastic voice.

“Well since lately you walk around with this like it is some kind of treasure, I had to look, what the “Great” Harry Potter was protecting so much from the public eye.”

“It doesn´t matter what is inside, it does not concern you. You had no right to look through it!”, the raven haired boy said now standing directly in front of Malfoy.

“Oh but it concerns me, since it seems like you also drew me. Tell me why did you? I suppose you couldn´t fight the temptation to draw my beautiful face.”, Malfoy said smirking.

“Don´t flatter yourself, since you stuck your nose in it, you probably noticed that I don´t just draw portraits, but events of the past. You just happen to be a part of a darker chapter of my life and I sadly can´t remove you from it. So don´t act all high and mighty, Malfoy.”, Harry said, grabbing the book out of the blond boys hand, tearing out the page with his portrait on it, crumbling it together and throwing it in the trashcan. Being angry he barely missed it and the paper ball hit the side of the trash can falling on the ground. The furious Gryffindor didn´t notice this, since he was already storming out of the door, having Malfoy scream after him.

“Yeah Potter, run away like the scaredy cat you are.”

Harry huffed storming back to the Gryffindor tower, reaching the portrait of the fat lady Harry snapping at her the password.

“Fizzing whizbees.”

“Hey young man, what is that tone in which you are speaking to me!?”

“Sorry…, could you please let me in?”

“What I have to deal with everyday….who would believe it.”, the fat lady mumbled swinging open.

Seeing their best friend walking into the dormitory, looking furious, Ron and Hermione immediately pulled their best friend into a corner of the common room, looking concerned.

“Mate what happened?”, Ron asked alarmed, while Hermione stroked the raven haired boys arm to calm him.

“Malfoy happened…”

“What did he do?”, Hermione asked.

“He was being an asshole like always. One would think after all that had happened, he would have changed, but no he is still the same git he has always been.”

“Just forget that jerk, he isn´t worth it. I don´t get why that slimy snake still gets to you, nobody cares about him anymore, even his own house avoids him.”, Ron said.

“Ron is right Harry, just ignore his teasing, you are better than that. What did he say to make you lose control like this?”

“I know guys, I don´t know why he always gets to me like this.”

“Don´t worry mate, that´s how you always have been with Malfoy. He always was the only one to get under your skin like this. But seriously what did he do?”, Ron asked.

“It doesn´t matter guys. He was just being a dick, don´t worry about it.”

“Really Harry? You can talk about it with us, we are here for you. Ever since you have broken up with Ginny right after the war, you don´t seem to tell us anything anymore”, Hermione said, slinging an arm around Harry.

“Seriously guys don´t worry. You know that we broke up, because after everything that happened Ginny and I realized that we didn’t fit together anymore. We both just changed too much, to be together anymore. We are still good friends, we just weren´t meant to end up together. Also of course I still tell you stuff, I am just a bit tired after everything that has happened last year.”

“Harry it is just, that you seem so unhappy at the moment and Ron and I don´t know what we can do to help you…. Ron says you barely sleep anymore and you have nightmares all the time, maybe you should go to Madame Pomfrey and get a Dreamless Sleep potion.”

“Yes mate, we worry about you.”

“Don´t worry about me guys. I know I am not at my best at the moment, but I will get better, it is just a bit much I have to progress from last year.”

“We know Harry, we just want you to know if you need anything, we are there for you.”, Hermione said, pulling her friend into a tight hug.

“Yeah, we are always there if you need us, mate.”, Ron chimed in with his girlfriend, laying his hand on Harrys shoulder.

“Thanks guys, I know that. I am going to go up to get some rest, till later.”

“Ok Harry relax a bit.”, his friends said, taking a step back, letting their friend go  
.  
Going up the stairs, Harry wondered how he deserved such good friends, deciding to spend more time with them again. They really deserved a better friend and Harry didn´t knew what he would do without them.

Lying down on his bed he started to reflect on his conversation with Malfoy, had he been unfair to him, accusing him for something the Slytherin didn´t do? Harry didn´t know.

In the end he decided that even if Malfoy hadn´t stolen the sketchbook. He still looked through it without his permission and this made him feel less guilty about the way he had treated him.

Feeling suddenly really drained of energy, after having barely slept last night, Harry slipped into a restless sleep, dreaming about Malfoy and all the interaction he had have today with his arch nemesis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok I actually promised to post this chapter much sooner, but then LIFE happend (-_-)  
> My landlady kicked me and my flatmates out, since she suddently decided she needed the flat for her son... So then me ans my flatmate/best friend (the other already planned moving out before all this) needed to find a new flat, which took some time... I literally can´t tell how many bad flates me looked at or phoned landlords just to be told the flat isnt available any more. Well then we finally found a good affordable one and then had to move, which involved even more planning....  
> So well that was what I was doing the past month, which caused me to have to time or inspiration or time to write.  
> I hope you forgive me and enjoy the new chapter!


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